A forward who was among the group of outstanding St. Louis players in the 1940s and ’50s, and who played all three games for the United States at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Pariani was one of the United States 11 who scored the famous victory over England in Belo Horizonte. He may have had an even bigger impact in the American team’s previous game, against Spain four days earlier in Curitiba. Pariani scored the 18th-minute goal that gave the United States a 1-0 lead that held up for more than an hour, until Spain rallied in the last 10 minutes for a 3-1 victory.

On that goal, Pariani met a low cross just outside the center of the penalty area and volleyed it into the back of the Spanish net.

At the time of that World Cup, Pariani was starring with Joe Simpkins Ford, then the leading team in St. Louis. He was a member of the Simpkins teams that won the U.S. Open Cup in both 1948 and 1950.

Pariani also was a member of the United States team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, a fact that didn’t stop the English from pointing the finger at him as a possible ringer after the Belo Horizonte game. He played a total of five full internationals for the United States.

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Founded in 1993 by American soccer historian Sam T.N. Foulds, the Society for American Soccer History (SASH) works to promote, facilitate, and disseminate research into the rich history of soccer in the United States.